Mon
Apr 1
|
Psalms
93 98
66
|
Jonah
2:1-9
|
Acts
2:14, 22-32
|
John
14:1-14
|
Daily Scripture Readings Easter Season, 2013, Year 1
Peter addresses
the crowd. Peter, the rock on whom Christ said his church would be built, is
the first to do so after Pentecost. Peter stands with the eleven. He raises his
voice and each person gathered in the temple courts hears what Peter
says in his and hers own mother tongue.
Peter says,
“Listen to what I have to say. Christ
has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.”
The mystery of
faith declared. On this statement hangs the whole gospel, believed and proclaimed.
Peter, speaking
for the eleven, understands why his heart is not troubled. Everything Jesus
said is true. He has died. The world was witness to death on the cross. He has
risen. Even the soldiers, both Roman and Jewish, saw the stone rolled away from
the tomb they guarded. The tomb was empty. Many witnessed they had seen him.
Jesus promised
he was going ahead to prepare a place for all who believed. For those who
believe Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He promised to come again.
How many people
over the next 2000 years would be persecuted and martyred, and yet like Peter
and the other disciples who walked and talked with Jesus, were willing to die
rather than renounce their belief in the mystery of faith.
In the past
century, more have been martyred for their faith in Jesus as savior and ruler
of their lives. They go to their deaths
breaking forth into joyous song. Singing a new song from an ancient text. “The Lord is king, He is robed in majesty. He
is the creator, the sustainer, and the rescuer.”
They believed
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. They, like all many in the temple
courts, heard the mystery proclaimed. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ
will come again.
Are you ready
and willing to share what you know to be true? Are you ready and willing to
keep your faith, even to death? Are you ready and willing to kneel in the
belly of the whale, in the prisons of the enemies, on the sands of time,
singing songs of thanksgiving and praise? Is your belief simple enough to
sustain you?
Christ has died.
Christ has risen. Christ will come again.
